England vs. Australia: Final Session, Day Five, the Oval

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England 377 & 205-5

Australia 492-9 dec & 111-6 dec - Match drawn

England responded to being set a target of 227 in 44 overs to win the final Test and secure a 4-0 series victory by dashing towards it, only for bad light to intervene with four overs to go and victory in sight.

Australia, so positive all day, began to spoil and slow down as the match slipped away—and the fading light beat England with the end in sight.

England win the series 3-0, and the celebrations after the emphatic series win will not be greatly sullied by missing out on a fourth victory.

Alastair Cook set the tone by hitting a couple of boundaries in the first over of the innings, and Joe Root was busy until he chased a wide one to Brad Haddin, becoming the wicketkeeper's 29th victim, a record number for a Test series.

England vs. Australia: Tea, Day Five, the Oval

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Australia 492-9 dec & 111-6 dec

England 377

England's lumbering innings ground to a halt on 377—as it happened their largest score of the series so far—and Australia's bid to score quickly was less than successful on an intriguing afternoon at The Oval.

Australia now lead by 226, and declared at tea, meaning England would have to score at just over five an over in the 44 overs left in the day to force an unlikely victory.

227 in 44 overs. Don't expect England to have much of a go at this, to be honest

England cobbled together 27 runs with their last three wickets, Matt Prior holing out with his first half-century of the series in sight, Graeme Swann doing much the same, and James Anderson's vigil predictably brief.

All eyes were on Australia to see how they would approach their second innings—the choice to send out David Warner and Shane Watson as openers was a clue.

And yet, scoring was difficult. After five overs, they had only managed just seven runs.

That picked up as Watson began to find some form, but England took wickets at regular intervals as they worked through a jumbled-up Australian batting order.

Anderson started the rot with a superb caught-and-bowled to dismiss Warner for 12, then Watson found Kevin Pietersen in the deep as he swung at Graeme Swann.

Thereafter it was Stuart Broad, who picked up four wickets in 17 deliveries as Brad Haddin, James Faulkner, Steve Smith and Ryan Harris came and went.

Michael Clarke and Mitchell Starc negotiated their way to tea, put in a declaration, and gave England an opportunity—albeit a risky one—to win the series in a blaze of glory after a negative Test.

England vs. Australia: Stumps, Day Four

No play was possible on day four of the fifth Test at The Oval, with rain falling overnight and then continuously through the day.

With ground staff estimating that two hours would be needed from the point the rain ceased to make the ground fit for play, the umpires came out to assess conditions at 4:00p.m. and did not take long to call the action off.

Weather permitting, the match will resume on Sunday—the final day of the Ashes this summer—but it is hard to see how any result other than the draw will be possible.

England vs. Australia: Stumps, Day Three, the Oval

England got through an extended day for the loss of just four wickets, but added just 215 runs in an attritional, grinding third day.

Alastair Cook, Joe Root, Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen all passed 20 at a snail's pace, and despite half-centuries from Root and Pietersen, neither went on to a big, dominating score, or even managed to up their run rate.

The hosts ended the day 46 runs short of the follow-on, and Ian Bell (29 not out) and Chris Woakes (13 not out) will look to take them past that mark on day four.

For some it was a spectacle of limited interest, a throwback to the worst of the old days of Test match cricket, but for others it was a reminder of cricket's tougher challenges on slow pitches.

Well played England. Its ironic that fans who are otherwise so obsessed with winning can't appreciate a professional effort like England's

In the evening session Pietersen managed to get to 50, albeit via an inside-edge which briefly threatened his stumps.

Thereafter he fell, edging Mitchell Starc to the slips. It brought Woakes out to the middle for his debut innings—and the cheer that went up for his first shot in Test cricket, a sweetly-struck boundary through square, was as loud as anything heard all day.

Australia probed valiantly, but lacked any great magic or incision on a pitch which offered little. England could not attack on a wicket which seemed to strip even an in-form batsman like Bell of the ability to time the ball effectively.

The biggest difference between the hosts and the tourists, who piled on the runs in their first innings, was the run rate—once again England crawled along, with neither Root nor Cook in any rush to score.

With the pitch expected to crumble and become spin-friendly later in the match, England's slow play appears to be making a draw the likeliest of the three results.

The run rate continues a trend which has been developing in 2013 for the Ashes winners.

Root's own landmark—his second score above 50 in this series—took 145 balls to bring up, but now set, he has every chance of compiling a third Test century on a day when the weather is set fair, and the wicket is not misbehaving.

There were moments of magic, however—one cover drive from Root was as elegant and measured a stroke as any seen on either of the two previous days.

England vs. Australia: Stumps, Day One, the Oval

Shane Watson's bludgeoning 176 came to an end, but the tourists still ended up in a strong position at the end of day one at The Oval.

Steve Smith continued until close, unbeaten on a half-century, while Peter Siddle survived as nightwatchman and even added a brisk 18 runs to his tally.

If there was any further sign required that it was Watson's day, it came via DRS. His unsuccessful reviews have become a subject of laughter in this series, but when Chris Woakes was awarded his wicket with Watson on 166, he reviewed and was proven right, with the ball heading over the stumps.

It was a highlight for England in a day of few, however, and the hosts will have plenty to do on day two and beyond if they are to force a 4-0 series victory, with only the second new ball really providing any great assistance for the bowlers.

England vs. Australia: Tea, Day One, the Oval

Shane Watson scored his first Test century since 2010 with an innings that demonstrated bravery and class, but his team-mates fared less well in the afternoon session.

Chris Rogers, who had hung around without troubling the scorers, tickled an edge from Graeme Swann to first slip early in the session, before Michael Clarke played a confused and fidgety innings which ended when he was bowled by James Anderson for seven.

Steve Smith survived until the tea break with the occasional flash of aggression and a series of defensive prods, but it was Watson who was again the story of the session.

He got up from a brutal bouncer from Stuart Broad which hit him just under his ear as he neared his century.

England vs. Australia: Lunch, Day One, the Oval

England struck early with the new ball, but Shane Watson played his best innings of the series to bat Australia into a healthy position at lunch on day one at The Oval.

James Anderson got the ball to swing, and removed the misfiring David Warner for six when he feathered behind to Matt Prior.

But that brought Watson to the crease in a new role as the number three batsman, and he took full advantage, closing in on a century at more than a run a ball.

Watson, playing freely and hitting cleanly, was particularly disdainful to the spinner on debut. Simon Kerrigan disappeared for 28 runs in his two first overs of Test cricket, and was hastily withdrawn from the attack.

Chris Woakes, meanwhile, made little impression with five nondescript overs that went for 30 runs.

The experienced trio of Anderson, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann made life difficult for Australia. The early swing was unexpected, and there was a little turn for Swann to utilise immediately, with Chris Rogers labouring along at a strike rate of 20.

But it mattered little, with Watson carrying the initiative and the duo's century stand coming up before the lunch break.